A mistake that frightened many English people. Instead of traditional Christmas greetings, a doctor’s office in the north of England mistakenly sent a message to hundreds of patients: “Diagnosis: aggressive lung cancer with metastases”. This error, reported by the daily The Sun this Thursday, did not please the patients.
At 3:49 p.m. on December 23, patients at this health center in Askern, near the town of Doncaster, received a text message on their phones informing them of this diagnosis, asking them to fill in the relevant forms and concluding: “Thank you “. About 20 minutes later, at 4:11 p.m., another message followed offering a “sincere apology”: “This was sent to you in error. Our message should have been: we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.
“Another huge mistake”
The error was not to the liking of patients, with some posting a screenshot of the messages on the firm’s Facebook group along with a very angry message. “Another huge mistake by lousy doctors,” posted Carl Chegwin, while another user replied in comment: “Everyone in Askern got this message!!”
According to The Sun, among the recipients of the message was a 57-year-old father who was awaiting the results of analyzes to determine whether he suffered from lung cancer. Chris Reed told the tabloid that he tried to call the firm, but was unsuccessful because the line was busy. He went there and was then told that the analyzes were negative.
The incident comes as relations are often tense between the British and their “GPs”, these health centers in the public health system where they are supposed to be able to be monitored and treated for free but who are overwhelmed after years of austerity. Contacted by AFP, the medical office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.